We had an amazing trip to the DR. We can’t thank you guys enough for making our trip from start to finish stress free so we could just enjoy!! Our transportation was wonderful and the resort and service was exceptional! What a beautiful place! We will be recommending the Dominican and our resort to all of our family in friends!! Thank you so much! We can’t wait to plan our next trip with Love to Travel! 😊
Good afternoon,
The trip was great! The travel service to and from the resort was excellent, no complaints with their service. Once we arrived we were greeted with champagne and directed to the Excellence Club area to check in, where we were greeted with more champagne lol. We did not go on any excursions but did attend all of the shows on the resort which were also excellent! Our favorite restaurant was Spice, a hibachi grill, and Agave, a Hispanic restaurant, was a very close second!
We did do the dinner on the beach which we enjoyed very much and again the food was excellent!
Thank you again for setting us up with the resort.
Kyle
As far as the travel arrangements, everything went as planned! No flight delays, no hiccups with the hotel, anything! The process going through the DR airport was seamless and we just had to just trust the process. They upgraded our room to a 2-story rooftop terrace which was incredible! We had booked an Oceanview Excellence Club room. The restaurants were good, but honestly there were a few we would have liked to try, but didn't have the time. Had a couple items brought out that we didn't order, but I can't fault the fact that we know very little Spanish.
Beach was great, golden sand, not haggled much walking off the property. Utilized the Excellence Club amenities every day we were there and that is exactly what we had in mind.
We did not do any excursions, so we don't have any feedback on those for you but we weren't interested in those for this trip for us. Only R&R!!
The resort was incredible, great food (some language barrier on food items but we didn't mind), great entertainment, beautiful property, beautiful beach. Great beach to just go on an endless walk.
The service what exactly what we had reviewed on the Excellence Resorts, friendly, speedy, had a personal feel to it. Loved it! Dominican Night on the beach when we were there was a blast! We had a great trip! Hope this helps. We will be happy to recommend this resort and LOVE TO TRAVEL to our friends. Thanks again!!
-Dan and Ashley
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Kim, |
Hi Dave,
Here is our review:
We returned home from Excellence El Carmen last week and have been trying to breathe from reality to write this review. So here it goes......
First of all our travel agent Love to Travel delivered an unforgettable trip for us and I would like to thank them for that!
When we arrived at the resort we were greeted with cool towels, champagne, and the most amazing staff. Super Wilquin made us feel right at home and even came upstairs to bring us more champagne. Maria was the one who checked us in and she was very friendly and very informative. We were upgraded to a beachfront two story w/ plunge pool without asking which was unbelievable! Then we met Super Manuel who took us to the room dancing merengue and singing the whole way. He then came inside and gave us a tour of the room which was very nice. We settled in and decided to head to the Sports Bar for a few Presidentes and food. The menu was small, but perfect for what we were looking for at that time. That's where we met Felix who definitely lived up to the good things we had read about him. "Oi Oi" "yeah baby". If you've met him you'll know what that means. Awesome guy and I recommend going to see him.
Ok, I should probably shorten this up...
We ate at Las Olas a few times. It's quick, easy, and was yummy. We also ate lunch at the Lobster House and the bacon wrapped filet was amazing. We had lunch at Oregano's and I wasn't impressed with the pizza, but my husband's pasta was good. We also tried one of the Excellence Club restaraunts, but don't remember the name. The service was good, food was ok. Overall the service was great at all the restaraunts. Oh yeah, and don't forget to do breakfast at least once at the Kitchen Table.
The ocean was pretty rough while we were there so we spent most days at the main pool. The service can be pretty slow, but if you get tired of waiting for a drink you can jump in the water and get a drink at the pool bar or there's a bar behind the pool. If Melvin is walking around take time to say hello and talk to him. He is one of the happiest, sweetest people we've ever met. He will also be glad to help you get a drink. His views on life is just what people need to hear!! He'll teach you Spanish too! 😀 They had water aerobics and games at the pool also. We really enjoyed the pool, some music would have been excellente though.
They have nightly shows every night. We only attended 1 and it was the Michael Jackson show. I highly recommend it!! Then they had entertainment outside of the theater after and it was really fun! You get a newsletter every night to tell you what show they will have and what restaraunts are closed.
Overall, we were very impressed with the resort. Everyone we saw was working very hard and deserve recognition. The grounds were well kept and beautiful. The bathrooms (except pool bath) were nice and clean. The lobby always looked immaculate when we were there also.
We had no theft problems, but we carried our cash and phones with us.
My very minor concerns were that there's a lot of different staff in and out of room. (housekeeping, concierge, turndown, etc.)
We stayed in a beautiful room (9173), but there was some pretty good water damage above the toilet that looked like it could start leaking anytime. The air was always turned down to 68 and everything always felt wet and we could feel drips/mist from the vent over the bed.
We are not perfectionists so none of these things bothered us! We loved the people and the resort!! I would recommend this resort to people who aren't there just to compare it to other places and people who respect the people who live there and understand that it's a tropical location so it will likely rain quite often.
We shared this on "Welcome to Excellence El Carmen" and "Bring on El Carmen" (FB). Will probably put it on trip advisor too so the employees are recognized. 😃
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!
Angie